Donovan and Beckham Exchange Handbags

David Beckham is back in LA and attending Galaxy games, so that means that the high-noon showdown between Landon Donovan and David Beckham is nearing.

For those of you who missed the first barb in this exchange, Donovan questioned Beckham’s commitment to the club and also the Major Soccer League in a book coming out Tuesday.

Donovan is quoted in the book saying:

“If someone’s paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you are suspended or not. Show up and train hard, show up and play hard. Maybe he’s not a leader, maybe he’s not a captain. Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day and that hasn’t happened. I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. Especially when he’s brought all this on us.”

Beckham responded by saying:

“It’s unprofessional. Me and Landon will talk, but that will be a private conversation. In every football player’s eyes throughout the world it would be unprofessional to speak out about a team-mate, especially in the press and not to your face,’ added the England midfielder. ‘In 17 years, I have played with the biggest teams in the world and the biggest players and not once have I been criticised for my professionalism. ‘It’s important to get this cleared up, and I will be speaking to Landon either this evening or over the next couple of days.’

The irony of Donovan calling Beckham out is that he is correct. Beckham did tank the second half of last season and he could not wait to leave and go to Milan. And the same will happen this season, as Beckham wants to be a sub for England in the World Cup next summer and he cannot do that while playing for the LA Galaxy.

The title of Donovan’s book is The Beckham Experiment and LD makes a good case so far that the Beckham experiment has failed as Becks is no longer interested in playing in MLS. A full book report will be available later this week.